“We have ruins on the grounds of Kerr house, Mr. Spencer.” Lady Kerr leaned in close to him.
Gabe forced himself to swallow down the dry toast. “Do you, indeed?”
She nodded, her black hair remaining perfectly in place with every movement. “We do,” she purred. “You must come for a private tour.”
“Ishould like a private tour, my lady,” Lord Pondridge said, a Machiavellian gleam to his eye, while pouring a dram of brandy into his goblet.
“Drinking atthishour, Pondridge?” Mr. Jackson raised a perfectly manicured brow across the table at the hawk-like Lord.
Pondridge waved a fork at the man and his twin mistresses, one on each knee. “Whoringat this hour, Jackson?”
With a wink and a wicked grin, the slender, red haired dandy laughed. “Touché.”
“Speaking of which,” Reddington put in, “you said you might perform for us, but what must we do to convince you to perform for ustonight, Mary?”
“Yes, Miss White,” Mr. Piper spoke before she could respond. “We have heard so much about your fascinating skills, it would be a shame not to honour us with a sample.”
Boxton’s eyebrows rose nigh to his hairline. “Perform?”
Mary’s smile was a bewildering combination of demureness and seductiveness. Bloody perfect. “If you wish it, then I shall dance tonight.”
“Dance, is it?” Lord Kerr sipped at the steaming coffee in his cup.
“Oh!” Boxton turned to gaze at his lordship, his green eyes wide and almost frightfully zealous. “You would not believe what Mary is capable of, Kerr. She does things that are simply…indescribable! The movement of her hips—”
“Don’t give away the enjoyment of it with your ham-fisted descriptions, Boxton,” Reddington cut in. “Let it be a surprise.”
“Yes. Yes, of course. But I’ll wager you have never seen the like.”
“I’ll take that wager,” Lord Kerr said.
Gabe wanted to slap the cocksure smile off of Boxton’s face.
“One hundred quid.”
Kerr raised an eyebrow. “Are you certain you can afford to lose such a sum?”
Boxton laughed loudly, his voice echoing off the walls of the large room. “I can afford towinsuch a sum, I assure you.”
Lord Kerr turned to look at Mary. “What say you, Miss White? Should I take the wager?”
Mary winked at him. “That, my lord, is for you to decide.”
He pursed his lips for a moment then nodded at Boxton. “You have yourself a wager. One hundred pounds that this young actress cannot do anything that I have not yet seen.”
Boxton clapped his hands in premature victory.
It took all of Gabe’s will not to howl his fury to the room. Each word these idiots spoke brought his anger higher. Hell, Gabe could not recall a time when he felt as angry as he has in the past four and twenty hours.
He must be ill. Perhaps he had the ague; he certainly felt warm.But no. The ague would not make one angry. Mayhap he was going mad. Madness was not found in his family, but he supposed it must begin with someone.
One of Jackson’s mistresses giggled as he kissed his way up her neck, cutting the sudden silence and breaking into Gabe’s maudlin thoughts.
“Who is game for a hunt this morning? The weather is fine if not a bit damp from yesterday’s rain, eh wot?” Mr. Piper leaned back in his chair and pulled out his snuffbox.
Lord Pondridge tapped his lap and his mistress rose from her seat beside him to straddle his thighs. “I do not ride…ahorse.” He winked and his mistress tittered.
Gabe suspected that Pondridge didn’t ride because he was always too drunk to stay atop his mount.
